Without any context, you may not think these loaves look that bad, lol. Truthfully, they aren't. They're still very much edible and delicious! One is prettier than the other🤣 but nonetheless, still successful sourdough breads!
We already know from the first time I experimented with this months challenge that ✨️patience✨️ is my biggest downfall when it comes to sourdough... and with this experiment #2, that still continues to be the case😅
Let me walk you through my process:
11am: I mixed each dough. The only difference is the amount of water - one is 64% hydration and the other is 80%. During the initial mixing, I did 3 minutes of Rubaud to each to give the dough a bit more strength.
Fermentalyse: I let them sit for an hour before starting slap & folds...
Folding: Here's where I can really benefit from a change in technique. For the sake of the experiment, I decided to do the same folding technique for both loaves - slap & folds... Despite me knowing that coil folds are the best for high hydration loaves because of their gentleness and high hydrations tendency to tear easily (and it sure did😅). So once again, despite the knowledge I have, I went with slap & folds because well... they're fun🤭 It’s not all about fun Sam🙄🤣
Bulk Ferment: y'all, please don't judge me lol. I knew the dough needed to go longer but I was ready to go to bed, so I shaped her anyway... and that's what I get for using cold starter and not having the patience to wait for her 🤣 so she's ✨️underproofed✨️
Shaping @ 9pm: remember when I said please don't judge me🫣🤣 The 64% was a charm to shape. She did great lol. She's the one I'm used to working with. But the ole 80% gal... imagine this - she tore😅 and instead of giving her a minute to relax and trying again what did I do? I just kept going and plopped her in the proofing basket. KNOWING she wasn't gonna hold shape😪 but at that moment I just didn't care lol
Cold Proof: nothing wrong there other than me putting it in too soon🤷🏻♀️
Baking: only thing that went wrong here was 80% sticking to the sides of the dutch oven because she spread so much (caused by underproofing & terrible shaping)
📸Crumb Shot: despite all my cutting corners and against-my-own-knowledge decisions, we still have beautiful, delicious, and very much edible sourdough bread!
📝The Takeaway? Cutting corners doesn't always lead to completely failed loaves you can't eat! It just means you may not have that jaw dropping, awe-inspiring bread you wanted.
So... while I eat this delicious bread, I'm gonna mix some more and try to keep my patience in check. Oh and also, ima do coil folds🤭😂
I'll report back tomorrow lolol